"I don't have time for that."

"I'm too busy."

"I'm overwhelmed."

Have you ever felt this way? Time management is one of the most difficult and important things to master as an entrepreneur. It impacts how many clients we can serve, how well we can market ourselves to new leads, and even affects how we present ourselves as individuals. 

I recently started doing a mindset experiment in which I stopped talking about how busy I was and I also stopped thinking that I didn’t have enough time to do everything. This experiment was prompted by my recent coaching experience — shoutout to Andrea Liebross Coaching — and I was intrigued. Could I, an overwhelmed mom, wife, and business owner who hasn’t slept properly since the summer of 2019, suddenly have tons of bandwidth? It seemed far-fetched, but I didn’t have anything to lose.

To begin my experiment, I didn’t remove any tasks from my to-do list. That would have been cheating. Instead, I stared down my to-do list (it was Friday, so I was in mom mode rather than work mode) and whispered to myself, “I DO have time for all of this, plus quality time with the kids.”

Inhale through the nose, exhale through the mouth. Yes. I was still stressed.

As the day progressed, however, I realized that I was getting everything done, even with the many interruptions that come with having two little kids. But instead of getting frustrated every time I had to stop what I was doing to break up a fight, kiss an owie, or serve up a snack, I kept repeating, “I have time. I have plenty of time.”

A few days later, my husband asked me if I had a busy day of work planned. I could see him already bracing himself for the answer of, “Yes, I have a ton of work to get done,” which would have been true.

Instead, I just shrugged and said, “I have the normal amount. No big deal.” It wasn’t a lie, I realized. It was all in how I chose to look at it.

In the weeks that I’ve been practicing the art of creating bandwidth, I’ve picked up on a handful of other habits that allow me to compress more productivity into each hour without operating from scarcity. I’m by no means an expert at this, but I’m pretty happy with the progress I’ve experienced so far, and it reminds me of the Bible’s wisdom on this common human struggle:

“Be still, and know that I am God!” - Psalm 46:10

“Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.” - Matthew 6:33

Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” - Matthew 11:28

Whether you subscribe to a Biblical worldview or not, consider this: the guilt, shame, and stress that come from poor time management and misplaced priorities are some of the lowest emotional frequencies. They weaken us. They make us susceptible to failure. They will damage relationships.

It is imperative that you get control of your time and put more generous boundaries on your bandwidth. Your life and business success, to a point, ride on that aspect of your character. To make it easier, today on The Kate Show I’m sharing seven habits I use to get more done in less time — without all the stress.